ADAPT has been protesting to get other advocacy organizations to join with them in support of the Disability Integration Act, which prevents officials and insurance companies from denying community-based services to disabled people. The AARP called the police on them, but no arrests were made.

How Lisa Ann McKenzie opened a barbershop specializing in autistic children’s hair(This post verges close to inspiration porn in places – heck, it is literally from a category called “inspired life” – but I did like reading about the effort and patience that went into figuring out how to provide a service that these kids need. YMMV.)

Sarah Kurchak on how autistic headcanons fill the gaps in official autistic representation. (I have a small problem with this article, which is that Kurchak inadvertently gives the impression that there’s less official representation than there is – many of the forms of representation she describes can also be found in books and stories I’ve reviewed! – but many of those books and stories aren’t very well known, especially among non-SFF-geeks, so, eh. Anyway, that’s a minor point, and the main points of the article are very good.)

Shira Rubin on autism therapy robots(There is more pathologizing language in this article than I would like, especially at first, but it also has some interesting information, especially where it lists potential problems with the robots.)

For Black History Month, Finn Gardiner tells the story of “Blind Tom” Wiggins, who may have been an autistic savant

Mac McClelland on what happens to Americans who are found not guilty by reason of insanity(TW: institutionalization; medical/psychiatric abuse; descriptions of violent crimes, including sexual crimes and crimes against children.)

Media and reviews:

Elizabeth Cassidy explains why having characters who meet all the diagnostic criteria for autism isn’t the same as having realistic autistic characters

Chavisory explains the problem with portraying autistic characters as naive. (This is one of those “I think I knew this, but I didn’t have language to say it” type posts for me. It’s a great description of a pervasive problem in a way I haven’t seen before. I might start linking to it in Autistic Book Party reviews once in a while.)

Maxfield Sparrow on how to explain death and dying to autistic children. (This is really good and detailed. TW for death, obviously, and a couple of other things listed at the beginning of the article.)

April is Autism Month – Autism Awareness Month to some, and Autism Acceptance Month to others, and sometimes just the annoying month where we have to listen to more Autism Speaks propaganda than usual – so there’s been a lot of news!

S.E. Smith on why more disabled people are employed in some US states than others

The U.S. Supreme Court recently made an important decision about disability and the death penalty. (For anyone who needs more evidence about why representation in fiction matters, this article describes how the state of Texas has literally been evaluating people’s eligibility for the death penalty based on their resemblance to a fictional character.)

Julia Bascom, executive director of ASAN, talks about the new autistic muppet on Sesame Street

Sad things:

Lifestyle Solutions, an Australian nonprofit that manages group homes for disabled people, is under investigation for abuse and neglect causing a series of deaths. (TW: In addition to what it says on the can, there is also mention of sexual assault. I have not watched the video that accompanies the article but, based on the description, would not recommend doing so.)

Amelia Hill interviews three autistic mothers of autistic children(TW: all three mothers discuss, among other things, a fear of social services taking their children away; abuse by third parties is also mentioned.)

For mental health reasons (I’m fine now, I just got overloaded by world events for a bit) I did not collect autism news during the months of January and February. I will not be making any attempt to retroactively collect news from this time: today’s Autism News post is for the news cycle starting March 1. Thanks for understanding.

Let’s start this cycle off with some political content: an ASAN toolkit on contacting your elected representatives.

Shannon des Roches Rosa gives advice for parents who just learned that their child is autistic. (This is a really good 101-level article. If you are new to this topic and looking for 101, it might be useful even if you are not a parent.)

Shelley Lorraine shares her story of adult diagnosis – and how it didn’t change other people’s reactions as much as she hoped it would.

About fun and play:

I don’t always share “someone did something nice for an autistic child” articles, but this soft immersive jungle gym is really cool.

ASAN is joining the newly formed Modern Medicaid Alliance, advocating for the importance of Medicaid in American disabled people’s lives

ASAN statement on the nomination of Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General, and why this nomination is dangerous for disabled people (among others)

The state of Michigan passed legislation to severely restrict and regulate the use of restraint and seclusion on K-12 students. (TW: descriptions of specific instances of restraint and other ableist treatment)